


Why is His Suit Black?

by the_ghostwriter96



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Realizations, batman is a bad guy, dark themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 10:34:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18050864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_ghostwriter96/pseuds/the_ghostwriter96
Summary: Robin finds a note on his suit. Eventually, it raises a question.





	Why is His Suit Black?

A note. A simple post-it note on Robin’s suit, where it was stashed away in the Batcave. It was yellow, small, square with neat handwriting that read _”Why is his suit black?”_ and for a moment, Dick just stood there, looking at the note. Until Bruce called for his attention, and he reached for his suit and stashed the little note away inside it. So that Bruce wouldn’t see. He wasn’t sure _why_ he didn’t want Bruce to see it, but… he didn’t want Bruce to see it, either way.

That night he came home with a cut on his upper-arm, courtesy of the Joker, and as Dick stripped in the bathroom to shower and clean it up, the note fell onto the tile floor. Ink smeared across the note and onto his chest from sweat, but he could still make out the words. Why was Batman’s suit black? It had to mean that, who else would it mean? No one else had a full-black suit, did they? Not that he could think of. It wasn’t Bruce’s handwriting, or Alfred’s, either.

It didn’t occur to him to answer that question for a while. He was on-edge, instead, suspicious of every creak, every sound the mansion made. He was on the lookout for anyone that might’ve gotten in. He checked the windows, checked the doors every night- Bruce noticed his paranoia, and made an effort to reassure him, but an occasional “Alfred checks the locks.” didn't do very much to make him feel better. Alfred checked the locks before, right? And someone still got in, someone still managed to leave that note for him to find.

He went through his days checking over his shoulder. Checking locks, patrolling the perimeters of the mansion, checking the surveillance cameras for- wait, he realized, on day three; the surveillance cameras! But the Batcave didn’t have cameras, for safety reasons, and whoever came in must’ve known about every blind spot because the cameras didn’t pick up on anyone in the yard. Whoever left that note was a professional at breaking into places. They knew what they were doing. That ruled out some villains, sure, but not enough of them.

It was only a week into this new routine that Dick realized what the question had even asked, and even then he only thought about it because it might’ve been a clue as to who left the message for him. Why _was_ Batman’s suit black? He asked himself, glancing over at the suit before another mission, as Bruce pulled it out of its holding place. It was black for stealth, right?

It was black so that people couldn’t see him in the dark. That’s why they patrolled at night. The cape was black, too, to make it harder to see where he was and where his cape was- to make him harder to hit. It was dark for stealth reasons, for protect him, to hide him and mask him in the shadows.

Something in Dick’s chest tightened, and his stomach seemed to fall, and suddenly, he felt chilled. Bruce’s suit was black for stealth-reasons. For safety. He turned back to his own suit. His own, bright, multi-colored suit, and stared at it, wheels in his head turning. Making connections, piecing things together, figuring something out. Red, green, yellow. The mask that barely covered his face and thin fabric of his suit…

The question wasn’t as simple as _”Why is his suit black?”_ \- he question was, _”Why is his suit black, when yours is not?”_


End file.
